The Trick to Raising Funding For A Business

Jun 5, 2017

I’ve spent the last 4 years building my company Better Walk, starting all the way from an early CAD drawing, progressing through 12 prototype iterations, setting up manufacturing and distribution, and delivering our products to hospitals and patients through the United States.

The tough part of building a company in healthcare is that it takes a significant amount of funding to get in the game. This is because most devices have a long path to market, and there are always manufacturing and supply chain issues that take time and money, that you can almost never anticipate. Additionally, there is typically a significant regulatory investment to enter the marketplace (we were fortunate in having a less cumbersome regulatory burden).

The tough part of building a company in healthcare is that it takes a significant amount of funding to get in the game.

On top of all of this, you’ll find longer sales cycles in the healthcare space. Hospitals are approached by so many vendors, it’s very tough to prioritize the innovation you are bringing to the market on top of the hundreds of other products that they are also evaluating. This means that even after you’ve completed the investment to take a product to market, there is company cash flow and sales burn that needs to be managed to actually build and scale a business.

So what sets us apart when we look for funds? Why would an investor consider putting capital into Better Walk when there are 100 other products out there, all with passionate entrepreneurs, with potential impacts important the advancement of healthcare and overall human advancement?

The way I see it, there’s really only one thing that sets us apart: Vision.

The way I see it, there’s really only one thing that sets us apart: Vision.

Of course our product is great, the finances work out, the partnerships are there, the traction is there, but all of that is the minimum. A vision is the core why behind a business, and a vision is the character development an investor needs to understand why they should invest in you.

A vision, when you build a business, makes your product into a business. And it motivates employees to show up every day. And if you get focused, it’s not about specifically improving the world, or generically improving healthcare, but if you get specific, and drive that vision with passion and determination, you have a business, and you’re a good investment.

Without a vision, there is no business to invest in.

Without a vision, there is no business to invest in. If you’re a person with a product, some IP, and traction, but no bigger picture, it’s unlikely you’ll create any sort of impact beyond your product's benefits, and you’re likely better suited to seek out a licensing deal to get your product out there.

However, if you’re really an entrepreneur, and you’re really looking to build a movement around a desire to disrupt, improve, or change in some way greater than what any group of human beings can accomplish through simple tasks and following what exists in a project management system, then you will have no issue raising money.

A lot of people look externally to find reasons why they can’t raise funding, but I suggest that you look inside yourself. Figure out what you’re really doing and why, and everything you need will come when you need it.